Immigrants Find A Home

When, How They Buy Houses Hasn't Changed

April 14, 2002|By Alan J. Heavens, Philadelphia Inquirer

PHILADELPHIA -- Since emigrating from Haiti in the mid-1990s, cousins Olieve Charmelus and Yves Jeannot have been wringing what they could out of their weekly paychecks to save enough money to buy houses.

While known for its grinding poverty, Haiti, like many other nations, has a tradition of homeownership. Indeed, 57 percent of immigrants polled in a 1995 Fannie Mae survey owned their own homes in their native countries.

The cousins' goal was to live in apartments only as long as they needed, to put away enough money. But prices in the Brooklyn, N.Y., neighborhoods where they felt safe to raise their families put homeownership beyond reach. The same was true with much of metropolitan New York, where even upper-middle-class people often live in postage-stamp-size housing.

Then the cousins found Philadelphia -- specifically, Frankford -- and houses within their price range that were large enough for their growing families (three children for Charmelus, five children for Jeannot).

Charmelus, an elevator operator in Manhattan, and his cousin, who works for the New York transit agency, said it meant a three-hour train commute each day to New York, but that they had succeeded in finding their dream houses among the twins and singles of Frankford.

Jeannot, Charmelus and their families are among the millions of immigrants who arrived in the United States during the 1990s.

During that decade of almost ceaseless economic growth, the number of documented arrivals -- 9 million -- was second only to the period between 1900 and 1910.

In both cases, the reasons for the tidal wave of immigration were primarily economic. America then and now promised more opportunities and a better life, even if that life was for the children of the immigrants and not the newcomers themselves.

Over 90 years, however, the countries of origin for the immigrants changed from eastern and southern Europe to Asia and Latin America.

In recent years, the numbers have been declining. In fiscal 1998, only 660,000 immigrants entered legally, according to statistics from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, and those figures are expected to decline as long as the recession lasts and perhaps a while after.

IMMIGRATION DEBATE SHIFTS

In addition, the events of Sept. 11 are contributing to a wariness of newcomers and have reinforced the arguments of those favoring immigration restrictions.

The suspects in those terrorist attacks -- a number of whom used lax immigration regulations and easy access to student and other visas to enter the country -- have changed the focus of the immigration debate.

Before Sept. 11, the focus was largely on the legal and illegal entry of Latinos, many with little education, through the Mexican border. Major supporters of liberalization included low-wage industries and unions.

Since the attacks, the focus has shifted much more to immigration from Asian, Middle Eastern and Muslim countries. Many of those immigrants have good educations and are seeking degrees and advanced training through college and graduate school visa programs.

U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, a Colorado Republican and a leading advocate of restrictive immigration policies, said the balance of power on the issue has shifted since the attacks.

"We are winning," Tancredo said. "That is different."

But if there are restrictions on immigration, "I expect that they will likely focus on people from the Middle East," said Michael Lee, a California real estate broker and author of Selling to Multicultural Home Buyers.

"I don't think you will see it for Latin America and Asia, and those are the areas that supply most of the immigrants to the United States," Lee said. "Whatever happens, there will be no immediate effect."

AFFLUENT NEWCOMERS

When and how today's newcomers buy houses has not changed over the last 100 years.

"They have the same work ethic as my grandparents. They work long and hard, and save more, and watch every penny," said Christopher J. Artur, Charmelus' and Jeannot's real estate agent, whose ancestors emigrated from Sicily in the early 20th century.

Unlike most of his buyers, the immigrants Artur deals with don't take government help in purchasing houses. In the cousins' case, they put down substantial down payments, obtained conventional 30-year mortgages, and paid most of their own closing costs.

"I like dealing with these people," Artur said. "The language differences make the transactions harder, but the financial aspects of the deals are routine."

Statistics show that immigrants are typically more affluent than native-born buyers of low and moderate income, and that their incomes are growing at a faster rate than those of native-born white households, according to Charlotte A. Chamberlin, an economist in California.

Lee said many Japanese, Chinese and Korean immigrants are middle class and came to the United States because there was more economic opportunity. They may arrive with enough money to buy a house without taking out a mortgage.